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    Blog
    Cabin detail part 3 (instrument panels)
    After the Christmas break its back to the cabin to finish some of the instrument detail. You may recall I detailed the cockpit with some ply constructions to represent the general layout; I also intend to detail the compass, throttle controls, steering wheel, panel lighting, and instrument panel. The instrument panel was copied and scaled from various drawing and pictures and I came up with a three-panel unit where panels 1 & 3 are identical as they are for the two-engine managements system the centre panel deals with electrical things. I intend to make the panel out of 1.5 mm aluminium cut to size on the guillotine I then attached this to a hardwood block with some strong
    double sided
    tape this will be more than strong enough to hold the piece for the drilling/light milling operation. I worked out the hole positions using an absolute datum (same as CNC work, if only I was still working) This does take some time using my rather old milling machine making sure any backlash is taken out during the 28 linear movements. I used various sizes of centre drills to produce the holes as they give not only accurate size but also perfectly round holes on thin material and the only ones that needed to be a particular size (6mm dial holes) the others are for switches and LEDs which can all be a 3 mm location hole. Each hole was drilled and then chamfered to simulate a bezel on the dials. Finally, I milled a shallow groove (2mm x 0.3 deep) to simulate the separate panels. I have copied a number of different marine dials from the internet and using PowerPoint I aligned in a complete group and then printed and laminated them, this will be placed behind the aluminium plate using double-sided tape. Having fixed the dials in place I drilled through the holes where LEDSs will fit. The LEDs will be shortened and polished so they are flat to the face; these are then stuck in place. Next, I made all the switches from brass bar with a fine brass pin glued across its face to simulate the lever. These were painted gloss black and the centre pin picked out in red, they were then glued into the 3 mm location hole. The black knobs/pull switches were turned out of black Perspex and polished; they were then glued into the location holes. The whole instrument panel is then pinned on to the wooden framework which has been left in natural wood finish (ply) as it looks like the original boat was just a varnished ply finish.
    5 years ago by mturpin013
    Blog
    Seat Trials and mods.
    Itโ€™s been a while since the boat had itโ€™s maiden voyage on the lake at St. Albans and Iโ€™m pleased to report that it looks really good in the water and goes like stink if you open up the throttle. Sadly I still donโ€™t have any decent video of the boat yet as I canโ€™t film and drive the thing at the same time, but I do have some static wide shots from my GoPro. When I do the video Iโ€™ll ask a cameraman mate to do the honours, maybe Iโ€™ll put the GoPro on the bow and then the stern to get some low action shotsโ€ฆthe storyboard is already building in my head!! These early runs were great as they showed up some minor problems that needed attending to. I found that it needed ballasting slightly as it was not sitting on the waterline evenly from side to side so I flattened out some old lead water pipe and cut it into small sections so that I could add ballast incrementally. I did this in the โ€˜domestic test tankโ€™ and once I was happy the lead pieces were fixed in place inside the hull with some super strong
    double sided
    tape. The ESC needed a little programming adjustment because I had forgotten to set the low battery level point to โ€˜offโ€™ as I am using NiMh batteries and not LiPoโ€™s , that was the cause of the short initial run time on the first outingโ€ฆ..DOH !! The batteries are now held in place by Velcro straps on some bearers that I added, otherwise a battery change involved cutting cable ties and replacing them at the lakesideโ€ฆnot very practical. The volt/amp/watt meter is also now on a proper bracket so that the display is more readable. I have also changed the charging connection from the nasty Tamiya connector to a nice little panel mount XT 60 connector that HobbyKing sell, it comes with a handy blanking plug that I have drilled for a retaining cord. I have also finally got around to upgrading the firmware on my Turnigy i6 radio to the 10 channel version so that I can assign the lighting to the switches properly and have the rotation of the searchlight on one of the two rotary knobs. I can use the old 6 channel RX in the new boatโ€ฆ.blog coming soon.
    6 years ago by robbob
    Forum
    Robbe Smaragd
    Remember to print these pages
    double sided
    . Cover with inside Cover on the back. Page 1 with Page 2 on the back. Page 3 with Page 4 on the back. Page 5 with Page 6 on the back. The Sailing map was in the middle of the book. The Genoa Document has all 3 pages within the file, and can be printed and assembled in the same way. Hope it all comes together. Ray
    6 years ago by East-RN
    Forum
    Robbe Smaragd
    Neil I have all the documents scanned to pdf files. Could I post them on this web site, so anyone can download them. Are you able to get them printed. There are 4 full size A0 plans and two Construction Manuals. I Separated the English text, and reconstructed the pages, to be copied on A3,
    double sided
    , then put in order and Folded to make the A4 Manual.
    6 years ago by East-RN
    Blog
    H.M.S BRAVE BORDERER
    Whilst waiting for the ice to melt, decided to make up the deck and transom flaps. The deck was made from styrene sheet, again for lightness. Made the deck beams out of square styrene sections to avoid traditional, heavy, full width bulkheads. Hoped the stiff MTBH hull would resist twisting without bulkheads. First impressions are that this is the case and when the deck is finally bonded to the hull, should be even better.. The transom flap was made from thin aluminium plate and added simulated stiffener ribs in styrene. Understand that about a 2 degree flap down inclination works best on this model. My original plan was to operate the flap using a servo with another radio channel, however once the best plane is achieved it is unlikely the flaps will need further adjustment. Unlike the real vessel, the operating weight will remain fairly constant. So, abandoned the servo idea to use adjustable bottle-screws instead. The flap angle can still be adjusted, but not in motion. These screws are much simpler, lighter and cheaper than a servo. One challenge was to make the very small hinges required for an adjustable flap. After much thinking and investigation, decided the simplest and neatest way would be to use thin, self adhesive aluminium tape, as used on forced air heating ducts. Would stick the self adhesive surface to the underside of the flap and then onto the inside face of another thin aluminium sheet, which could then be fitted to the transom using
    double sided
    tape and small screws. This seems to work so far, it also avoids drilling through holes into the transom .
    6 years ago by Rowen
    Forum
    Glue
    Thanks for all the info guys.
    double sided
    tape was a winner, with surprise late runner, blue tack. A flash of inspiration in the wee small hours!
    6 years ago by glyn44
    Forum
    Glue
    Hi Glyn, I wouldn't use silicone, as nothing else will stick where it has been, even paint will react with areas of contact. I know this from making a similar mistake myself. I have used small dabs of pva, and
    double sided
    tape, both have worked well for me. Hope this is helpful, cheers Colin.
    6 years ago by Colin H
    Forum
    Glue
    Hi have you tried
    double sided
    tape maybe it would work
    6 years ago by BigAlio
    Blog
    Rudder servo in place!
    I placed the rudder servo forward of the gear box. The folks at dumas wanted it placed. Against the coaming that runs along the opening of the hull! I found this angle troubling! The servo would be on a 180 degree angle. Which would be hard to get to. What if I don't have a screw driver. that's small enough to get to the screws! So, the servo has been placed next to the gear box! On a 90 degree angle which makes it extremely accessible. I have also placed the receiver. On the coaming using
    double sided
    tape. I placed the aerial on a piece of wood. I placed on a 90 degree angle! On my last Tug I put the receiver. On the motor mount floor. And the aerial against the coaming!
    6 years ago by figtree7nts
    Response
    H.M.S Bulldog
    I first started by removing all the decks, this was just a case of running a knife around the inside of the hull, the decks just feel out as it looked as if they had been fixed to the hull with
    double sided
    tape but it was just a case of using the wrong type of glue๐Ÿ˜†, on removing the fore-deck I found that it was in two pieces, think I will make the new one in one piece, I left all the deck fittingโ€™s fixed to the decks so that they would not get lost,
    6 years ago by Fred
    Forum
    Am i useing the right esc
    Hi Steve, Glad to help ๐Ÿ˜‰
    double sided
    pads are a bit thin and relatively hard! I would still try a thicker and softer mount if the noise is loud enough to be annoying. Maybe somewhere else in the boat might also help!? Cheers Doug ๐Ÿ˜Ž
    7 years ago by RNinMunich
    Blog
    The Anchor.
    I had previously assembled and primed the anchor, having added a little additional detail to the white metal castings, as described in a previous blog update. I subsequently added some plasticard pieces to the arm of the anchor to thicken it slightly so that I could fit a small brass shackle as a finishing detail. The final paint finish is Tamiya gunmetal metallic to match some other deck fittings. The anchor is held in place on the foredeck by a small
    double sided
    adhesive foam pad beneath the anchor base and the mounting pad it sits on. The base and arm is also retained on two other mounting pads buy couple of โ€˜staplesโ€™ that were formed by heating and bending some thin Plasticard rod into shape and they are just a push fit into some holes drilled into the mounting pads. The fixings are quite secure but as with many other items of deck furniture it can be easily removed for maintenance or repair. Sorry this is not a particularly exciting or interesting post but the next will be the suction hoses and fittings which were quite a challenge and will hopefully be a great deal less boring ๐Ÿ˜œ
    7 years ago by robbob
    Blog
    The lighting circuits.
    I had previously made and tested the lighting pcb but I subsequently decided to modify it to take some 2 pin Molex connectors, they have the same hole spacing as the Veroboard PCB and are polarised and will make the final wiring a little easier and a lot neater too ๐Ÿ‘ All the lighting wires were formed into colour coded twisted pairs and tacked in place within the wheelhouse with some epoxy and then overpainted black where they were conspicuous. The PCB is fixed to the bulkhead on PCB spacers and all the wiring retained by a cable tie on a self-adhesive base. The two Turnigy R/C controlled switches were mounted on a plasticard plate with
    double sided
    foam tape and then this plate secured to the bulkhead with a self tapping screw. The battery connections and common negative connection to the R/C receiver battery are on Molex connectors as well. The battery was fitted with XT60 connectors and secured to the keel with cable ties through some screwed eyelets. The port, starboard, forward blue and mast lights are on one switched circuit and the searchlight on a separate switched circuit. The searchlight also rotates on it's own servo channel. The result is a nice tidy installation which can easily be removed for servicing and modification if required ๐Ÿ˜Ž
    7 years ago by robbob
    Blog
    The window glazing & frames.
    A full set of laser cut perspex windows is supplied in the VMW kit along with corresponding frames for all and they are all a pretty good fit in the window apertures of the engine room, forward cabin and wheel house rear walls, only requiring a light easing with a file for a secure fit. I left the protective film on the screens whilst gluing them in place with a very small amount of canopy glue applied to the window edges with a dressmaking pin and pressed into place so that they were flush with the outside of the cabin walls. The wheelhouse windows were a bit trickier as they are glued to the inside face of the panels and I had to remove the protective film around the edges of the outer face of the windows by running a fine sharp blade around the window aperture with the perspex held in place by hand. Canopy glue was then used very sparingly on the face of the perspex and the windows clamped in place. The central screen of the wheelhouse has the Kent Clearview in it and this needed to be carefully centred before fixing in place. When all had dried and set the protective films were peeled off to reveal nice clear โ€˜panesโ€™ without any unsightly glue smudges. The CNC cut window frames are made from a flexible plastic material with accurate and well defined edges. They were all given a light sanding with abrasive paper as a key for the paint and were then laid out on a large piece of card paying particular attention to getting them the correct side up, in particular the wheelhouse frames which are โ€˜handedโ€™ for either port or starboard. They were all held to the board with small pads of
    double sided
    foam tape and sprayed with two coats of Halfords metallic silver paint followed by two light coats of Halfords gloss lacquer. After a couple of days to dry they were removed from the board and fixed in place with canopy glue applied with a pin as very small dots around the inside face, aligned with masking tape โ€˜guidesโ€™ and a straight edge and then held in place with small tabs of masking tape. The installation of the glazing in the wheelhouse was made a lot easier because I had previously cut away some of the bulkhead and rear wall to give better access to the wheelhouse interior for detailing. This is not mentioned in the building instructions but is well worth doing for all the above reasons ๐Ÿ˜
    7 years ago by robbob
    Forum
    Wooden ladders
    Alan I have made ladders in the past by using light ply. cut two strips to over length. Join with
    double sided
    tape. Mark a centre line down the middle of one strip and carefully mark off the distance between each step. Use a small drill the same diameter as your chosen steps and drill through both strips. The best way is to make a small brass jig with two holes of the correct diameter and distance. Put a bit of step in one hole and use as a template to keep the distance equal. A strip of wood alongside the jig helps keep the centre line. Once all holes are drilled, seperate the two strips and clean up any residual stickyness. Place the steps in the holes and align the sides. A jig of the correct spacing helps keep all square. I use white glue or a spot of super glue to secure. Once dry lightly sand the sides flat. if you intend to stain the wood you will need to do this before you glue. You will need a jig to hold everything whilst you do this before glueing. Hope this helps Dave
    7 years ago by Dave M
    Forum
    Small plastic joinery glue
    Yes it's in a a small
    double sided
    by side tube with a long mixer nozzle u should have a gun to push it out but we just use 2 round dowels u should be able to get it on eBay to
    7 years ago by Hybrid
    Forum
    Ballast for Puffer
    Suggest try a mixture of old car wheel weights. The radial ones are usually good where they can be slide in and for more congested spaces use the square stick on ones. Most tyre companies are only too pleased to get rid of them. Leave them to soak in paint stripper, wash well in cold water and most of the old paint and adhesive will come off. The remainder can be got off with mechanical endeavours. Once located, saturate in glass fibre resin and they are fastened in for life. if they need to be removable use
    double sided
    tape.
    7 years ago by Rowen
    Blog
    White metal deck fittings.
    In between coats of black paint thereโ€™s time to prepare more of the white metal deck fittings. They all require a bit of a clean up to remove casting lines and flash, and this is easy to do with an assortment of small files, blades and a small suede shoe brush with brass wire โ€˜bristlesโ€™. After a quick clean up with panel wipe I fixed them all to a piece of card with small strips of
    double sided
    foam tape to stop them getting blown around by the pressure of the spay can and gave them a couple of light coats of etch primer. To assemble the anchor I used some 2mm brass rod with some brass ends made from some larger diameter brass rod, drilled and filed to a pleasing profile, a bit of plasticard was added to neaten the pivot point and the assembly was also given a coat of etch primer. The cooling water outlet tube and flange and the dummy exhaust ports (adapted portholes) were primed also. Theyโ€™ll get a coat of black gloss before they are fixed to the stern. Iโ€™ll tackle the fire monitors nextโ€ฆ
    7 years ago by robbob
    Forum
    Aerokits Fast Patrol Launch stern cover
    Hi Jonbliss152 How about using Velcro or
    double sided
    tape! Just an idea. Or see what others might recommend also.
    7 years ago by figtree7nts
    Forum
    CLUB 500 BOATS SHAFTS SEIZING
    Thanks pmdevlin for your reply, On 2 of the boats I altered the u/j at the motor end to lock on with a grub screw and the motors are all held in with
    double sided
    tape bands so they are very rigid. They were all fitted out internally prior to the deck being fitted. The shafts all had endfloat. Even when the prop and locknut and u/j were removed we still could not shift the shaft until we gave a short sharp blow to the end it. The shaft was a dull silvery colour where they rotated in the bearing.
    9 years ago by HoweGY177
    Blog
    part 8
    Bottom boards, nothing very exciting. But a neat trick (I think) stuck down on
    double sided
    tape until the cleats have set. Trim to fit after with scissors. ๐Ÿ”จ
    10 years ago by hammer
    Blog
    Victory Industries Vosper Fire Boat RC conversion part 5
    The base plate that supports the pivot for the right angled lever that converts the side to side movement to fore and aft is located over the inner P bracket lugs and extends to the lug at the rear of the servo mounting using the same bolt to retain it. All very neat. The actual pivot is the same 2mm brass rod used for the rudder shafts. The mounting block is two pieces of scrap glued together and drilled to take the rod. The only odd 'found' component is the white plastic tube that supports the lever. Any diabetic that injects will be sick of the sight of these as they cover the needle points. At last, a use for them - well one at least. If you do decide to use this system don't stick the pivot down Immediately as its position relies on the lengths of the various levers. I made the levers and when satisfied put everything together in situ and fiddled with the pivot position (
    double sided
    tape helped to tack the pivot down whilst doing this). When happy with the position I marked it and then stuck it down. The plate that connects the rudder tillers and the right angled lever (there must be a shorter term for this) has a slot in it to take the RAL (there, that'll do). What you see in the photos is the Mk3. The trick is to stop the lever fouling the slot whilst supporting the plate. The part of the lever that slots through is 'U' shaped and there's a small thin plastic plate glued to the U either side of the connecting plate. By forming the pivot loop around the 2mm brass rod meant that the RAL stayed horizontal keeping everything in line. (Photo 7) NB On final assembly the crank on the arm from the servo is fitted upside down to this photo to make it easier to fit the whole thing into the boat. The last piece of the jigsaw is the link between the servo and the RAL. Without using a clevis this can't be fitted with everything in situ so is split to make this possible. The join also allows for some final adjustment. The joining piece is the brass insert and screws from a small electrical connector block. The split has to be one long and one short as the only access to the join is either through the cockpit hole or the old battery hatch but the choice is made because the brass connector can foul the floor under the cockpit.
    10 years ago by smiggy
    Blog
    ytgn 7
    At last a bit of progress to report. it has taken some time to design and make the various deck structures, the attached pics show the bits all made from 2 mm ply. There are a lot of glazed windows on the Valsheda, so I thought a good method of making the multiple units is to cut the complete window outline and to make the glazing from 2 mm perspex, to glue these in initially with
    double sided
    tape, as used by dress makers and when fitted to apply a generous coat of epoxy resin over all the outside surfaces thus providing a fillet of adhesive between the perspex and the timber frame. The intermediate glazing bars then being glued to the perspex. in this way thin glazing bars can be fitted and the glue does not extrude around the frame. A further coat of epoxy resin is then applied over all the assembly. The rudder servo and linkages have been modified in order that the rudder can be removed for transport, this being held in place by a turned brass tube nut which represents the binnacle in the stern cockpit. At present the two cabin and cockpit assemblies are removeable from the deck so the problems of overcoming the leakage into the hull still have to be resolved, the most likely solution will be to seal the main cabin assembly to the deck with silicone sealant, but as the aft assembly will require to be removable, some more thought will be required. Twin winches for sail control have been fitted, these are made from 6 volt motor gearbox units fitted with drums. The intention is to run the sail sheets round the drums with the tension being provided by elastic bands housed in aluminium tubes running for and aft.
    11 years ago by nasraf
    Forum
    Website Transfer
    All the build blogs can now be printed as booklets! These are dynamically created PDF documents which have been designed as fold in half
    double sided
    A4 booklets showcasing all the posts and build history. I've attached some example PDF's with this post but for all members with blogs out there, well done for doing them! and I hope this is a feature that gives a small return and something of a keep sake document that can sit with that model in the future, or get taken to events if it's ever on display. As always I'm open to criticism or Improvement suggestions ๐Ÿ˜Š Stephen
    12 years ago by fireboat
    Forum
    34'' Fireboat
    HI Pete,you might need to juggle about a little with the length of the servo horn and tiller to get the rudder movement right, I try to keep the distance between the rod and the centre of the servo horn fixing screw around 15/16mm and a similar distance for the tiller, that seems to work for me! increasing the tiller length will reduce rudder movement but increasing the servo horn length may move it too far, I try and keep them similar. Again similar to DaveM I used a 1/16 ply base fixed into the boat with epoxy under the servo and
    double sided
    tape to hold the servo in place, Velcro is good for receiver and ESC but with load on the rudder it can twist and become loose. When you feed the prop shaft in try doing it slowly and twisting as you would a screw thread, you'll find much less gets pushed out of the other end, I always give a light coat of lube to the shaft as well as putting some into the tube before fitting. Roger
    13 years ago by thelegos
    Forum
    34'' Fireboat
    HI Pete Yes saw the post from Roger, but had already promised to post when looking at the photo gallery. Hopefully you will get the idea from both our setups. The servo is attached to the floor on wood packing and held with velcro or
    double sided
    tape - sorry I can't remember which but it has never failed and remains solid to this day. My comment regarding the age of the vessel was not meant as a criticism but refers to the fact that this kit was very popular in the 1960's and many seen today are from that era - especially if it has been fitted with an Ic engine. Modern fittings were not available, so much innovation was required by the budding modeller! At least you can claim to have an original Aerokits model and not one of the after market copies! Dave
    13 years ago by Dave M
    Blog
    sorry for the lack of posts
    well I was able to do a few bits this weekend on the boat first time since the last post, I have started to mount the steering servo, for a long time I have used this methoud to mount servoes from my days in 12th cars, I find it is neat and makes changing a quick job, cannot stand it when people use
    double sided
    tape or just glue them in , I think they need to be secure but with a bit of play in the link,not a lot 1/16 " thats all , I also think you have to be semetrical to get equal throw .anyway hear is the mount Ill try and fit it and put a picture of that on as well I have made the rudders and link and will take a picture of that as well
    16 years ago by Peter HS93
    Blog
    Plastic cutting
    So at last we are cutting plastic "Hurrah" well at least a smile. Anyway after transferring the position of things to the plastic that is two pieces of 1.5mm
    double sided
    taped together, its over to the minI mill I use a router cutter, one of the good things about the fire boat is that a few lines will give you most of the superstructure as a lot of it is parallel. I use a ply board that is "T" nutted on to the bed with a wood guide Parallel to the bed I have a couple of quick clamps screwed on to wherever they are needed, I do it this way as my hands don't work very well doing repetitive work. Anyway what you can see in the bottom picture is what can be cut out, so there is only a bit of tidying to do and we will be joining bits together.
    16 years ago by Peter HS93
    Blog
    19 Dec 2007
    Yes I know I said it would be superstructure next but I thought I would would just say a few words about the deck, if you use stablit glue clean it of before it dries, as it is a pig to get of, but that is good as it shows it sticks. I clean the area with a bit of acetone before I glue. Anyway it took a full night to clean the excess of that would have taken one minute. So now I can start cutting plasticard. hurrah This is the way I transfer info between plan / boat / plasticard I use a piece of timber with a block glued on the end, this can hook over the end of the boat or the plasticard or lone up with a mark on the plan by doing it this way you can check a position on all three. The other thing is that if you start marking from a point it can start to creep by even the thickness of a pencil each time can become a few millimetres. The sheet material is 1.5mm and I have glued two together with
    double sided
    tape so hopefully they will match. The bulkheads where positioned to line up with parts of the superstructure this will hopefully give it a bit of extra strength, it also gives you an idea of how the plan strips can be used. Just a note on photocopying at home, PC scanners can be very good at copying but they are not that accurate unless you get the right settings, the aspect ratio can give you little fat boats if you are not careful. I had an old scanner and it was great at this but 15 years on and the all in one I have is a bag of ^%$ยฃ& at it so beware to check photocopy's before you get a funny shaped boat!
    16 years ago by Peter HS93


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